Nature Book Project - The Practical Naturalist

Nature Book Project 2016

This entry includes my Amazon.com affiliate link. I purchased this book with my own money and am providing my personal opinions about this book.

Somehow I missed writing a review for this book in April but I am making up for it this month! The Practical Naturalist published by DK and Audubon is a strikingly visual book. Its image rich content is appealing to all ages and the text is written in a way that concentrates lots of information in short easy to read snippets. (ISBN: 978-0756658991) This entry includes my Amazon.com affiliate link. I purchased this book with my own money and am providing my personal opinions about this book.

The subtitle really explains the foundation of this book: Explore the wonders of the natural world.

It tackles many of the fascinating aspects of the natural world around us, organized by habitat. This book is not like the Handbook of Nature Study which organizes its lessons by specific topics but rather it creates a close up picture of a sampling of the plants and animals that you may encounter in a particular habitat.

Habitats Covered:

Close to Home
Forest
Farm and Field
Scrub land and Heath
Grassland
Mountain and Hillside
Lake, River, and Stream
Coast
Tundra and Ice
Desert

Quick Thoughts on The Practical Naturalist

I tend to like to study things by habitat so I enjoyed the way the material was organized.
The images are large and colorful. There are even some “sideways” two page spreads which are a nice way to present the material.
The vocabulary is rich and creates a basic understanding of more complex biology-themed ideas.
I would consider this a living book because it intersperses text, images, and activities in such a way that the topics come alive for the reader. It would make a great foundation for a natural science or nature study course for children perhaps 10 years old and up. I could see how this book would have been a wonderful read aloud with my younger children as well.
One possible negative about the book is that it will require additional research to thoroughly cover each topic. This is not meant to be a nature encyclopedia.

I think this book is a great addition to a nature study reference library that you will use over the years as the opportunity arises. Nature loving kids would like to have a copy of their own to read and flip through at their leisure. Perhaps in the future I will use this book as a supplement to the Handbook of Nature Study plans!

This book is part of my Nature Book Project for 2016.